City’s yard waste site eyed as potential location for new fire station
By Jalen Maki
Tomahawk Leader Editor
TOMAHAWK – Just over two years after it was formed, the City of Tomahawk’s Kaphaem Rd. property ad hoc committee has been disbanded.
The committee was made up of the city’s five-person Finance Committee – District 1 alderperson and Finance Committee Chair Mickey Loka, District 1 alderperson Patricia E. Haskin, District 2 alderperson and Council President Jeff Kahle, District 2 alderperson Dale Ernst and District 3 alderperson Steve “Ding” Bartz – as well as District 3 alderpersons Mike Loka and Tadd Wegener, at-large members appointed by Mayor Steven E. Taskay.
For several years, the city has considered moving its emergency services to a centralized location.
After the city purchased the 1775 Kaphaem Rd. property from Lincoln County for one dollar in Dec. 2020, the ad hoc committee was formed in Jan. 2021 and tasked with coming up with a plan for the former Lincoln Industries property.
The property, which features a roughly 8,000 square-foot building sitting on about 19 acres, was eyed as a potential choice for a new emergency services hub.
In June 2021, the committee voted to move forward with a study by Five Bugles Design, a firm that specializes in planning and design services for the public safety service industry. The firm analyzed both the Kaphaem Rd. property and the Tomahawk Fire Department’s current building at 100 N. Tomahawk Ave., assessed the department’s space needs and compiled information regarding a potential building addition/expansion or relocation to the Kaphaem Rd. property.
In recent months, faced with challenges related to costs and the Kaphaem Rd. property’s location near the southeastern city limits, the city’s focus has shifted to the potential construction of a new fire station at the city’s yard waste site on S. Tomahawk Ave., leading to the dissolution of the ad hoc committee.
The city’s Finance Committee will resume responsibilities regarding the future of the Kaphaem Rd. property.
